tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39824073953689020422015-09-16T22:58:26.607-07:00The Voices of FemspecA place of expression and sharing ideas between members of the Femspec community, as well as Femspec news and updates.
Femspec is an "interdisciplinary feminist journal dedicated to critical and creative works in the realms of sf, fantasy, magical realism, surrealism, myth, folklore and other supernatural genres."femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-28989368913732937592014-10-04T10:12:00.001-07:002014-10-04T10:12:11.989-07:00This message about fundraising to support future conferences comes from Gwendolyn Beetham as she prepares for the 2015 National Women's Studies Association (NWSA) conference later this year. <i>Femspec</i> will be in attendance at the conference as well, and hopes to see many of you there too!<br /><br />From Gwen:<br /><br /><i>Hi everyone,&nbsp;</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>Just a quick update - we've raised an additional $1000 in the past week (!!), and we're now at $2025 with 9 days to go! &nbsp;Keep on getting the word out! And remember, any money over our goal will go to NWSA to start a fund for contingent faculty in the future.&nbsp;</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>And, just a reminder to send along your description of what you'll be addressing at the conference if you haven't already. I wanted to also ask for suggestions for a "what can you do as a (feminist) student" for my piece at Feministing (you can send them to me and not the entire group). I think that something from a student perspective would be very useful and there's not a ton out there.&nbsp;</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>That's it for now. Big thanks to you all - so looking forward to November.</i><br /><div><br /></div>femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-16316345505561477712014-09-30T17:17:00.004-07:002014-09-30T17:17:50.166-07:00Announcing a new title from the Femspec press<i>Femspec</i> is pleased to announce the upcoming release of a new title from Femspec Books and Publications!<br /><br />Naomi Mercer’s <i>Toward Utopia</i> will offer readers a critical examination of the way in which feminist authors recognize the dangers of fundamentalism and its infusion into American politics in the 1980s and began to address those dangers through genre writing. Specifically, Mercer addresses how feminist authors critique religious fundamentalism, linked to the rise of the Religious Right in the United States, in four canonical texts that interrogate fundamentalist manifestations of Abrahamic religions: Atwood’s <i>The Handmaid’s Tale</i>, Marley’s <i>The Terrorists of Irustan</i>, Piercy’s <i>He, She and It</i>, and Tepper’s <i>Raising the Stones</i>.<br /><br />In tracing the non-chronological thematic arc among these texts, Mercer argues that feminist dystopian writing transgresses not only genre but also the “master narratives” of Western culture through its examination of and warnings against religious fundamentalism and theocratic governance. She notes that such writers interrogate this fundamentalism to expose its inherent misogyny and oppression, activities that are frequently played out on women’s bodies, and further argues that these writings challenge the legitimacy of the very underpinnings of Western thought and culture in myriad ways.<br /><br />When asked what prompted her to develop this text, Mercer told us that "While deployed to Iraq for a year, I read Louise Marley’s <i>The Terrorists of Irustan</i> as a way to combine my love of science fiction and think more about the challenges facing the Muslim women with whom I came into contact."<br /><br /><i>The full press release can be viewed below.&nbsp;</i><br /><i></i><br /><a name='more'></a><br />She adds that:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"My focus, as an outgrowth of my master’s thesis on feminist dystopias from the 1980s, had been on the militarization of women in science fiction. However, during my time in Iraq as an Army officer simultaneously applying to doctoral programs, I found myself too overwhelmed by militarization to deal with it objectively. Reading Marley’s novel, thinking about the implications of religion as an aspect of identity, and learning more about Islam and Muslim feminism, my scholarly interests turned toward addressing religion in feminist dystopian and utopian writing.” &nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AfPSCwt5OdY/VCtH3KSSRHI/AAAAAAAAAC0/irg1a6wCAzo/s1600/Mercer_PressRelease_TowardUtopia_FemspecPress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AfPSCwt5OdY/VCtH3KSSRHI/AAAAAAAAAC0/irg1a6wCAzo/s1600/Mercer_PressRelease_TowardUtopia_FemspecPress.jpg" height="320" width="247" /></a></div><br /><br /><div><br /></div><b>About the Author:</b><br />Naomi Mercer is a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army and an assistant professor in the Department of English and Philosophy at the United States Military Academy. &nbsp;She earned her doctorate in literary studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2013. She specializes in feminist dystopian and utopian writing.<br />&nbsp; <br /><br /><br />femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-31658304101697142282014-09-27T13:04:00.004-07:002014-09-28T08:15:50.372-07:00Congratulations in Order. . .Editor Batya Weinbaum has had a poem accepted for publication in the upcoming issue 98 of&nbsp;<a href="http://sinisterwisdom.org/" target="_blank">Sinister Wisdom</a>, a multicultural lesbian journal of art and literary work.<br><br>Consider <a href="http://sinisterwisdom.org/subscribe" target="_blank">subscribing</a>, <a href="http://sinisterwisdom.org/donate" target="_blank">donating</a>, <a href="http://sinisterwisdom.org/node/10" target="_blank">volunteering</a>, or <a href="http://sinisterwisdom.org/submit" target="_blank">submitting</a> to support a sister journal!femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-37699409874273763132014-09-27T09:27:00.001-07:002014-09-27T09:27:24.856-07:00Free Access to Journal of Gender Studies Special Issue <br /><i>Femspec </i>is pleased to provide its readers with limited free access to a special issue from the Journal of Gender Studies in honor of Gina Wisker, a <i>Femspec</i> board member whose paper appears in the issue entitled <b>"All in this together? Feminisms, academia, austerity." </b>The issue can be read for free&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09589236.2014.913824" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>&nbsp;for a limited time.<br /><br />The introduction and six papers of "Feminisms, academia, austerity" address the impact that economic austerity policies have had on the academy, and more specifically on its feminist scholars, researches, and programs. One question the introduction raises in particular asks readers to consider "What is the future for women in higher education and feminist scholarship if the current age of austerity threatens to further hamper academic feminism?"<br /><br />Wisker's paper, which provides a strong bookend to the discussion, discusses how teaching and learning can be used to resist the intellectual inadequacies perpetuated by this new system.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;"><i>"Wisker argues that despite the damaging sociocultural and intellectual effects of austerity upon scholars and students in higher education, feminist scholars have the opportunity to counter the negativity of diminishment. Wisker calls on feminist scholars to use their influence on the higher education curriculum to show how feminist scholarship proactively engages the concepts of social justice, waste and self-worth that lie at the heart of austerity discourses and contexts. Using examples from her own literature studies background, Wisker demonstrates how austerities can be challenged through feminist speculative fictions by contemporary women writers, whose writing, she shows, offers creative, value-oriented and critically engaged ways of imagining self and society beyond austere constraints"</i> (JGS 1-2)</blockquote>femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-3069015422319462532014-09-21T11:23:00.001-07:002014-09-21T11:35:22.307-07:00Announcing 2016 Femspec Retreat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As the Great Age issue 14.2 is finalized, <i>Femspec</i> is also pleased to announce plans for its first retreat.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Open to the public, this event can be attended in whole or in part and will feature opportunities for both personal and professional development as well as a chance to meet like-minded authors, artists, students, and scholars of feminist speculative fiction studies.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Watch this page or like us <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FemspecJournal" target="_blank">on Facebook</a>&nbsp;for more news!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L-0htPf7PIc/VB8UiyBF8HI/AAAAAAAAACk/vToy6cgDSfY/s1600/8.b.%2BFemspec%2BRetreat%2BPoster.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L-0htPf7PIc/VB8UiyBF8HI/AAAAAAAAACk/vToy6cgDSfY/s1600/8.b.%2BFemspec%2BRetreat%2BPoster.png" height="640" width="492" /></a></div><br />femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-21117672852390732832014-03-21T00:00:00.000-07:002014-09-21T11:05:30.140-07:00The Great Age Issue: Reproductive Equality in Marge Piercy<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">“So We All Became Mothers”: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Reproductive Equality in Marge Piercy<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">By Mala Ghoshal<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; One of the facets of science fiction which is particularly valuable to feminism is its ability to conceptually separate elements which are, in our society, nearly inextricably bound together, in order to consider each element individually. An excellent case in point is the distinction between sexual difference and reproductive difference. This paper focuses on Marge Piercy’s novel <i>Woman on the Edge of Time</i>, which preserves the existence of two sexes but does away with the distinction between a birthing sex and a non-birthing sex. Furthermore, Piercy argues that sexual difference in and of itself doesn’t preclude the creation of an egalitarian society; reproductive difference, on the other hand, must be surmounted before true equality can be achieved.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;"><br /></span><br /><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">The story’s protagonist is Connie, a poor institutionalized, Mexican-American woman, who is contacted by a woman who lives in a community called Mattapoisett 150 years in the future.&nbsp; While Connie is increasingly impressed by Mattapoisett’s tight-knit community, concern for individuals, lack of hierarchy, and overflowing joy and creativity, she is initially horrified by their system of reproduction and child rearing. Babies are brought to term in a uterine replicator, and raised by a trio of co-mothers (who may be either male or female, and who bear no genetic relation to the child). Connie protests, “How can men be mothers! How can some kid who isn’t related to you be your child?” (105). Luciente, her host in the future, responds,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">It was part of women’s long revolution. When we were breaking all the old hierarchies. Finally there was that one thing we had to give up too, the only power we ever had, in relation for no more power for anyone. The original production: the power to give birth. Cause as long as we were biologically enchained, we’d never be equal. And males never would be humanized to be loving and tender. So we all became mothers. (105)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Connie’s initial reaction to the Mattapoisett version of maternity is resentful fury, colored by her memories of the child who was taken away from her. She rages:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">How could anyone know what being a mother means who has never carried a child nine months heavy under her heart, who has never born a baby in blood and pain, who has never suckled a child. Who got that child out of the machine the way that couple, rich and white, got my flesh and blood. All made up already, a canned child, just add money. What do they know of motherhood? (106)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The mothers of Mattapoisett don’t carry or bear their infants. Connie learns, to her increased outrage, that male as well as female mothers suckle. She reacts to the sight of a man nursing first with disgust, then with jealousy, and the with anger, reflecting:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">[H]ow dare any man share that pleasure. These women thought they had won, but they had abandoned to men the last refuge of women. What was special about being a woman here? They had given it all up, they had let men steal from them the last remnants of ancient power, those sealed in blood and milk. (134)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">The point that Piercy leads us to see is that there is nothing special about being a woman here – nor about being a man – nor does there need to be. Connie gradually moves from revulsion to acceptance of Mattapoisett’s revisions of biology. As she continues to watch the man nurse, she reflects that “[s]he could almost hate him in the peaceful joy to which he had no natural right; she could almost like him as he opened like a daisy to the baby’s sucking mouth” (135).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Much of the impact of Connie’s journey towards acceptance of Mattapoisett springs from its difficulty. By presenting biological motherhood as overwhelmingly beautiful and powerful, and then advancing arguments as to why aspects of it should be eliminated and other aspects shared anyway, Piercy compels her readers to grapple with the question.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Connie finally realizes that she has come to not only accept but also embrace Mattapoisett’s ways when she sees a child who seems the double of her lost daughter:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Suddenly she assented with all her soul to Angelina in Mattapoisett.… Yes, you can have my child, you can keep my child…. She will be strong there, well fed, well housed, well taught, she will grow up much better and stronger and smarter than I…. She will never be broken as I was. She will be strange, but she will be glad and strong and she will not be afraid. She will have enough. She will have pride. She will love her own brown skin and be loved for her strength and her hard work. She will walk in strength like a man and never sell her body and she will nurse babies like a woman and live in love like a garden, like that children’s house of many colors. People of the rainbow with its end fixed in the earth, I give her to you! (141)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; All of Mattapoisett’s citizens are able to walk in strength like men and nurse babies like women; they are all free from participation in certain aspects of maternity and free to participate in other aspects of maternity. Thus, sexual differences lose meaning in the absence of reproductive difference; gender roles are completely absent from Mattapoisett, and Connie frequently has trouble distinguishing males from females. Indeed, she believes that her Mattapoisett host, Luciente, is male for the first sixty-seven pages of the book. When she realizes her error, her reflections emphasize how gendered the most minute aspects of behavior are in our society:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Luciente spoke, she moved with that air of brisk unselfconscious authority Connie associated with men. Luciente sat down, taking up more space than women ever did. She squatted, she sprawled, she strolled, never thinking about her body was displayed. (67)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Because we see Luciente through Connie’s eyes we also perceive her as male throughout the beginning of the novel. The fact that we see her first as a man and then as a woman contributes to Piercy’s successful depiction of Luciente as socially androgynous, unbounded by gender roles or expectations. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Another remarkably effective strategy of highlighting the centrality of sexual difference in our culture and convincingly depicting a society where sexual difference just isn’t seen as terribly relevant is Piercy’s use of gender-neutral pronoun, “per.” We never learn the sex of many of the minor characters, and the sex of other characters seems unimportant partly because it is not constantly emphasized in language. Piercy’s creation of a completely gender-neutral language has the result that her society is completely androgynous. Emerging from <i>Woman on the Edge of Time</i>, a reader returns with new eyes to a language and a culture that suddenly seem saturated with markings of sexual difference. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Piercy’s novel calls our attention to our concepts of identity and bodily experience. The issue of connection between mind and body, soul and flesh, occupies a pivotal place in both philosophy and feminism. Historically, systems of thought which see the mind and body as separate and separable have opposed the two in a hierarchical and antagonistic relationship which privileges the mind over the body. In such systems, the body has often been equated with women, nature, and racial others, who need to be subdued and controlled by those who equate themselves with the mind. Many feminists are understandably skeptical, then, of technologies which seek to overcome nature and “free” people from the constraints of physicality. Other feminists embrace the use of such technologies as a means of breaking down the equation between women and the body.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Piercy embraces the use of technology to eliminate reproductive difference. At first glance, Piercy’s society, which entirely replaces natural birth with artificial birth, seems more concerned with overcoming the constraints and discomforts of the flesh. Her society also renders the physical markers of race and sex culturally meaningless. Connie, a woman who experiences her race and sex as well as her experience of pregnancy and childbirth as central to her identity, initially reacts against these aspects of Mattapoisett: “She hated them, the bland bottleborn monsters of the future, born without pain, multicolored like a litter of puppies without the stigma of race and sex” (106).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Eventually, however, Connie and the reader come to see the citizens of Mattapoisett as both deeply embodied and cautious in their use of technology. Connie’s observation of a man experiencing the sensual pleasure of nursing is one place where the embodied experience is emphasized; when she asks Luciente why they don’t use formula, she responds, “But the intimacy of it! We suspect loving and sensual enjoyment are rooted in being held and suckling and cuddling” (135). Piercy’s novel reveals a closer sense of identity between the body and the self and more comfort with less pleasurable aspects of physicality. The citizens of Mattapoisett treat health problems largely through “inknowing,” or biofeedback; inknowing is not seen as a way of using the mind to control the body, but as a way of understanding the unity of the two. Thus, Piercy’s novel celebrates bodies as they are, be that fleshy, scarred, or aged. Surgical modification of the body appears only in the brief vision of a dystopic future against which Mattapoisett is poised, in which women are surgically “improved” to meet absurd standards of femininity and men are melded with machines to create more efficient and obedient soldiers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Finally, Piercy’s society accepts aging and death. When Connie asks Luciente why her society hasn’t solved these problems, Luciente responds, “But Connie, some problems you <i>solve</i> only if you stop being human, become metal, plastic, robot computer. Is dying itself a problem?” (125). Though Piercy is concerned with minimizing the domination of nature by humans and eliminating the domination of women by men, she is also concerned with minimizing the domination of children by adults. Consequently, in Piercy’s novel, the nuclear family has given way to trios of comothers who agree to share the care of a child until age twelve or so. Comothers are generally not lovers, “[s]o the child will not get caught in love misunderstandings” (74). The notion of the nuclear family is further disrupted by living arrangements: each adult lives in a spec of “per” own, the children all live together in a children’s house, and all meals are communal. School has been replaced with learning by doing, and children accompany adults whose work interests them. Connie notes with surprise the fact that the community has the resources to provide children with art supplies and tools and complex scientific equipment, but toys are virtually absent.&nbsp; The explanation she receives provides a thought-provoking perspective on the contemporary utility of toys:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">They play farming and cooking and repair and fishing and driving and manufacture and plant breeding and baby tending. When children aren’t kept out of the real work, they don’t have the same need for imitation things…. In that time…they had many toys for teaching sex roles to children. (138)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Along with sex roles, taboos against children’s sexuality have vanished. While touring the children’s house, Connie and her guides accidentally intrude on two seven-year-olds attempting intercourse; her guides are startled and amused by Connie demanding, “Aren’t you going to stop them?” (138). The relaxed attitude of the citizens of Mattapoisett towards children’s sexual activity mirrors that expressed in Theodore Sturgeon’s utopia <i>Venus Plus X</i>: “Questions: When are they old enough to do it? Answer: When they are old enough to do it” (145).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Even before puberty, then, children in Mattapoisett are perceived as much more capable of engaging in “adult” activities and decision-making than children in our society. Children do still have a distinct status; but this status is formally removed following an initiation ritual in which a child survives alone in the woods for a week, has visions, and chooses a new name. At this point the child (usually about twelve years old) returns to the community as a full adult. When Connie protests the danger involved in leaving a child alone in the woods, a mother explains, “We have found no way to break dependencies without some risk. What we can’t risk is our people remaining stuck in old patterns – quarreling through what you called adolescence” (116). The end of childhood is thus also the end of motherhood. Upon a child’s return, per mothers are not permitted to speak to per for three months: “Lest we forget we aren’t mothers anymore and person is an equal member” (116). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Piercy explicitly states her belief that children are capable of a much higher level of self-sufficiency and autonomy than they are granted in our society: in the most explicit instance, one of her characters tells Connie, “[Y]our young remained economically dependent long after they were ready to work. We set our children free” (116). <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" /></span> <br /><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Works Cited<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Piercy, Marge. <i>Woman on the Edge of Time</i>. New York: Fawcett Crest, 1976. Print.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;;">Sturgeon, Theodore. <i>Venus Plus X</i>. New York: Foundation, 1988. Print.<o:p></o:p></span></div>femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-38144059551479437122014-03-17T04:00:00.000-07:002014-09-21T11:05:56.766-07:00The Great Age Issue: Power of the Positive Crone #4<div style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: center;"><b>The Power of the Positive Crone</b></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: center;"><b>by</b></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: center;"><i>Carole Spearin McCauley</i></div><br style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">The following is the second of the four part series by Carole Spearin McCauley.<span style="background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;The first part is&nbsp;<a href="http://thevoicesoffemspec.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-great-age-issue-power-of-positive.html" target="_blank">available here</a></span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">This article was written for The Great Age Issue. The author has graciously permitted us to serialize it on our blog as a prelude to the issue itself. &nbsp;Our second issue for this year - 14.2 - is dedicated to aging and gender: representations in speculative fiction, everyday experiences, creative fiction or non-fiction, and more. Inspired by board member, Constance Brereton, we're calling this The Great Age Issue. &nbsp;</blockquote><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">*****</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><b style="text-decoration: underline;">Author Bio:</b>&nbsp; Carole Spearin McCauley is a medical writer/editor, the author of 13 books (medical nonfiction, literary novels, mysteries), from large (Simon&amp;Schuster) and smaller (Daughters, Inc; Women's Press) publishers &nbsp;in the U.S., U.K., Israel, Italy. &nbsp;One nonfiction book title is Surviving Breast Cancer (Dutton, Bantam Books). Her two latest mystery novels, Cold Steal and A Winning Death, appeared recently in hardcover and paperback from Hilliard&amp;Harris.com (Maryland). Her short work (stories, articles, poetry, reviews, interviews) has appeared in about 200 periodicals, anthologies, and now online, including New York Times, America, Family Circle, National Catholic Reporter, The Atlantic, North American Review, Redbook, Woman's World, Women of Mystery. Seven short pieces have won prizes in international contests that include Radio Netherlands Worldwide and USA Today.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Her 13th book, How She Saved Her Life, is a tale of love/business/arson--with llamas--that features a mature heroine. &nbsp;It's set in the Berkshire Hills, western Mass. where Carole grew up. &nbsp;She graduated from Antioch College, Ohio, and earned an M.A. in &nbsp;writing from Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY. &nbsp;For five years she &nbsp;planned programs with the Woman's Salon, Manhattan. &nbsp;At Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, she has taught Basics of Fiction Writing and works with Women's Network of the Upper Valley. She speaks yearly at Berkshire Women Writers Festival, Mass. &nbsp;She belongs to the Grail international women's movement and &nbsp;worked years at Grailville, its Ohio N.A. headquarters, and at its Manhattan art-bookshop.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">*****</span><br /><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div class="MsoPlainText" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><div align="center" class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .25in; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">RESOURCES FOR THE POSITIVE CRONE<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .25in; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Books<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .25in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Evoland, A., Chasiotis, W., eds, <i>Grandmotherhood—The Evolutionary Significance of the Second Half of Female Life. </i><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Rutgers</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place> Press<i>, 2004.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .25in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Minkin, Mary Jane, <i>A Woman’s Guide to Menopause and Perimenopause, </i>Yale <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">University Press, 2005.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .25in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Weidiger, Paula, <i>Menstruation and Menopause: The Physiology and Psychology, the Myth &nbsp;and Reality, </i><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">New York</st1:state></st1:place>:&nbsp; Knopf, 1976.<i>&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Articles<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">McKinley, Sonja and Margot Jefferys, “The Menopausal Syndrome,” <i>British Journal of Prev. and Social Medicine </i>28:2, 1974, pp. 108-15.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Menopause.&nbsp; Social Expectations, Women’s Realities.”&nbsp; <i>Women’s Mental Health </i>5:5-8. 2002.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Groups<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">bootswebmd.com &nbsp;<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.K.</st1:country-region></st1:place> women’s health newsletter and center.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">/thebms.org.uk&nbsp;&nbsp; British Menopause Society, latest research news. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">emedicinehealth.com&nbsp; Women’s Health A-Z List.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">EMAS European Menopause and Andropause Society.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Medline Plus.&nbsp; Web information from US National Institutes of Health. Includes clinical trials at National Institute on Aging.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">menopause.org&nbsp; North American Menopause Society (NAMS), <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">5900 Landerbrook Drive</st1:address></st1:street>, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%;"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Mayfield Heights</span></st1:city><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">, <st1:state w:st="on">OH</st1:state> <st1:postalcode w:st="on">44124</st1:postalcode></span></st1:place><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">.&nbsp; Publishes <i>Menopause</i>scientific journal and an email newsletter.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">webmd.com&nbsp; <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Menopause</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Health</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>, latest news, slide shows, questions answered.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div>femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-39993554493621328402014-03-13T12:08:00.000-07:002014-09-21T11:06:04.140-07:00The Great Age Issue: Power of the Positive Crone #3<div style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: center;"><b>The Power of the Positive Crone</b></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: center;"><b>by</b></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: center;"><i>Carole Spearin McCauley</i></div><br style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">The following is the second of the four part series by Carole Spearin McCauley.<span style="background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;The first part is&nbsp;<a href="http://thevoicesoffemspec.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-great-age-issue-power-of-positive.html" target="_blank">available here</a></span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">This article was written for The Great Age Issue. The author has graciously permitted us to serialize it on our blog as a prelude to the issue itself. &nbsp;Our second issue for this year - 14.2 - is dedicated to aging and gender: representations in speculative fiction, everyday experiences, creative fiction or non-fiction, and more. Inspired by board member, Constance Brereton, we're calling this The Great Age Issue. &nbsp;</blockquote><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">*****</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><b style="text-decoration: underline;">Author Bio:</b>&nbsp; Carole Spearin McCauley is a medical writer/editor, the author of 13 books (medical nonfiction, literary novels, mysteries), from large (Simon&amp;Schuster) and smaller (Daughters, Inc; Women's Press) publishers &nbsp;in the U.S., U.K., Israel, Italy. &nbsp;One nonfiction book title is Surviving Breast Cancer (Dutton, Bantam Books). Her two latest mystery novels, Cold Steal and A Winning Death, appeared recently in hardcover and paperback from Hilliard&amp;Harris.com (Maryland). Her short work (stories, articles, poetry, reviews, interviews) has appeared in about 200 periodicals, anthologies, and now online, including New York Times, America, Family Circle, National Catholic Reporter, The Atlantic, North American Review, Redbook, Woman's World, Women of Mystery. Seven short pieces have won prizes in international contests that include Radio Netherlands Worldwide and USA Today.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Her 13th book, How She Saved Her Life, is a tale of love/business/arson--with llamas--that features a mature heroine. &nbsp;It's set in the Berkshire Hills, western Mass. where Carole grew up. &nbsp;She graduated from Antioch College, Ohio, and earned an M.A. in &nbsp;writing from Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY. &nbsp;For five years she &nbsp;planned programs with the Woman's Salon, Manhattan. &nbsp;At Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, she has taught Basics of Fiction Writing and works with Women's Network of the Upper Valley. She speaks yearly at Berkshire Women Writers Festival, Mass. &nbsp;She belongs to the Grail international women's movement and &nbsp;worked years at Grailville, its Ohio N.A. headquarters, and at its Manhattan art-bookshop.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">*****</span><br /><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 0.5in;"><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">THEN HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT AGING IN YOURSELF?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Ah, now you’ve caught me.&nbsp; Although I welcomed menopause as a natural way to unload all my female complaints (hemorrhaging periods from fibroid tumors, endless breast cysts and breast surgery from one benign tumor, plus nausea during pregnancy), I don’t look forward to old age.&nbsp; To deter its insidious effects, I walk and exercise regularly, including classes where I live, plus NordicTrack, abdominal lift equipment, and lifting weights in my living room.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" /></span> <br /><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Here’s a poem I wrote about aging:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div align="center" class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Kicking Bricks—or When Did I Get So Stiff?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“When did I get so stiff?”&nbsp; Lifting the barbell, I ask my exercise teacher.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“When did I get over-qualified?” I ask the smart young personnel manager.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.5in; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Now in the fall of the year<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">we gather into barns and are gathered.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“When did the skin around my eyes crinkle?” I ask my mirror.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“When did I trade pimples for dry skin and grey hair?” I ask my doctor.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He laughs.&nbsp; “Better grey hair than none at all.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Overheard:&nbsp; “Didn’t have one grey hair, but she died last week at 52.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Brain tumor.&nbsp; Can you believe it?&nbsp; If the tumors don’t get you,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the cholesterol will. Pass the eggs, Sue, will you?”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When did I choose the same dilemmas, the same house of bricks.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; the same car that stalls on left turns?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Honed down, like clay twice fired,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; shaped up, no dross remaining.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Now in the fall of the year<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; we gather into barns and are gathered.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Maturity is what’s left<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; after the pain has subsided.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">WHAT GOALS OR ATTITUDES ABOUT MENOPAUSE DO YOU HOPE THAT SOCIETY WILL ADOPT?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I want to teach people, especially women, to ask sensible questions on route to sensible solutions:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What do most women really feel at this time? What am I really feeling?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What medical help do I need, or how can I handle this event by myself, using whatever techniques have succeeded in my past?<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">How can I make this a transforming experience—not a “silent passage” but a “soul event”—a stage to anticipate instead of dread?<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-77164336251230111282014-03-04T07:10:00.000-08:002014-09-21T11:06:27.662-07:00The Great Age Issue: Power of the Positive Crone #2<div style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: center;"><b>The Power of the Positive Crone</b></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: center;"><b>by</b></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: center;"><i>Carole Spearin McCauley</i></div><br style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">The following is the second of the four part series by Carole Spearin McCauley.<span style="background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;The first part is <a href="http://thevoicesoffemspec.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-great-age-issue-power-of-positive.html" target="_blank">available here</a></span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">This article was written for The Great Age Issue. The author has graciously permitted us to serialize it on our blog as a prelude to the issue itself. &nbsp;Our second issue for this year - 14.2 - is dedicated to aging and gender: representations in speculative fiction, everyday experiences, creative fiction or non-fiction, and more. Inspired by board member, Constance Brereton, we're calling this The Great Age Issue. &nbsp;</blockquote><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">*****</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><b style="text-decoration: underline;">Author Bio:</b>&nbsp; Carole Spearin McCauley is a medical writer/editor, the author of 13 books (medical nonfiction, literary novels, mysteries), from large (Simon&amp;Schuster) and smaller (Daughters, Inc; Women's Press) publishers &nbsp;in the U.S., U.K., Israel, Italy. &nbsp;One nonfiction book title is Surviving Breast Cancer (Dutton, Bantam Books). Her two latest mystery novels, Cold Steal and A Winning Death, appeared recently in hardcover and paperback from Hilliard&amp;Harris.com (Maryland). Her short work (stories, articles, poetry, reviews, interviews) has appeared in about 200 periodicals, anthologies, and now online, including New York Times, America, Family Circle, National Catholic Reporter, The Atlantic, North American Review, Redbook, Woman's World, Women of Mystery. Seven short pieces have won prizes in international contests that include Radio Netherlands Worldwide and USA Today.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Her 13th book, How She Saved Her Life, is a tale of love/business/arson--with llamas--that features a mature heroine. &nbsp;It's set in the Berkshire Hills, western Mass. where Carole grew up. &nbsp;She graduated from Antioch College, Ohio, and earned an M.A. in &nbsp;writing from Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY. &nbsp;For five years she &nbsp;planned programs with the Woman's Salon, Manhattan. &nbsp;At Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, she has taught Basics of Fiction Writing and works with Women's Network of the Upper Valley. She speaks yearly at Berkshire Women Writers Festival, Mass. &nbsp;She belongs to the Grail international women's movement and &nbsp;worked years at Grailville, its Ohio N.A. headquarters, and at its Manhattan art-bookshop.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"><br /></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #7c0045; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">*****</span><br /><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">AS A HEALTH WRITER, WHAT QUESTIONS ABOUT MENOPAUSE—THE <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“LAST TABOO” AND OUR “SILENT PASSAGE”—DO YOU FEEL HAVEN’T BEEN ASKED SUFFICIENTLY?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Why do some women report no symptoms at all from the usual list?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">How can we integrate menopause—as with childbirth—into the rest of life?&nbsp; Stop seeing it as a crisis, an estrogen-deficiency disease, the end of sexual desire?&nbsp; And more accurately define its stages?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do different ethnic, racial, socio-economic groups cope better or worse, according to their own traditions?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As baby boomers age, let’s hope menopause is respected as a rite of passage.&nbsp; These millions of female baby boomers, plus the one-third of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place>women who endure hysterectomy, do constitute a sizeable chunk of our population that is still functioning in work, marriage, family and community life.&nbsp; Remember when menstruation was “the curse,” with women considered dysfunctional, unclean, irrational each month?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">DID YOU HAVE ANY ROLE MODELS TO HELP YOU PERSONALLY?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Don’t I wish!&nbsp; No, because the French-Canadians from whom my mother came saw any amount of suffering as woman’s portion—“offer it up to God.”&nbsp; I believe many health crises <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">that afflicted&nbsp; her and her many siblings and their spouses involved poor diet;&nbsp; untreated depression; hypochondria to get attention in a large family; lack of exercise and marriage counseling; problems with self-assertion, including fear of questioning doctors.&nbsp; One reason I became a medical writer was to counter too-frequent medical melodramas.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">WHAT IS SOME RECENT MENOPAUSE RESEARCH?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> some late “menopause drama” involved the German drug, flibanserin, which the FDA refused to approve in June, 2010.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; Many people do believe that the nature of menopause and “female sexual dysfunction” (decreasing sexual desire) merit a “female Viagra”&nbsp; Is menopause a disease—or a normal aspect of aging?&nbsp; Considering that Viagra for men now approaches $2 billion yearly in sales, obviously the drug companies (German Boehringer Ingleheim and U.S. Procter&amp;Gamble) in this country are not neutral.&nbsp; The new drug, discovered as a by-product of depression research and found to increase sexual desire, operates in 100 mg. doses by increasing serotonin, dopamine, and testosterone receptors and levels in the brain, enhancing mood and desire.&nbsp; Yes, women too produce at least some testosterone.&nbsp; Unlike birth control pills, however, flibanserin is not considered a hormone.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Such research seems like a worthy goal, until its critics, such as Liz Canner in her film <i>Orgasm, Inc. </i>blame women’s lack of sexual interest on work stress, frantic schedules, poor relationships, lack of marriage counseling, uninformed lovers, untreated depression, plus the Catholic church’s continuing ban on contraception.&nbsp; And the new drug does have some minor side-effects.&nbsp; Depending on which company seeks a patent, the drug is called Girosa or LibGel.&nbsp; So far, more than 5,000 women in 220 clinics in various countries each took the drug or a placebo for 24 weeks.&nbsp; Begun in October 2009, the study ended in February 2011.&nbsp; After the results are revealed, the FDA will re-evaluate.&nbsp; The drug is already available on the Internet and in other countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Whom to believe?&nbsp; If your own sexual life or desire has decreased or disappeared, be honest about the reasons why.&nbsp; What do you most need in this area?&nbsp; So many of us grew up when “nice girls don’t want or do that”—or even imagine it—that our chief duty was to create a good marriage, healthy children, satisfy a husband, including preventing infidelity.&nbsp; Finally live chastely as a widow or single woman.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Thus, although I had no positive or immediate role model for how-to-do-menopause, I had stunningly clear images of how not to do it if I hoped to stay sane.&nbsp; Although I’m not stoical or insensitive, I have tired of overreaction in myself or others (although I do mine and re-create it for fiction writing because of what it causes otherwise reasonable people to do).&nbsp; I offer what help I can, but if it’s ignored by someone determined to be miserable or nasty, I’ve learned to move on.</span></div>femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-64955267637264683462014-02-12T20:14:00.001-08:002014-09-21T11:04:52.667-07:00The Great Age Issue: The Power of the Positive Crone #1<div style="text-align: center;"><b>The Power of the Positive Crone</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>by</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Carole Spearin McCauley</i></div><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Our second issue for this year - 14.2 - is dedicated to aging and gender: representations in speculative fiction, everyday experiences, creative fiction or non-fiction, and more. Inspired by board member, Constance Brereton, we're calling this The Great Age Issue.&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">The following piece the first of a four part series by Carole Spearin McCauley.<br />This article was written for The Great Age Issue. The author has graciously permitted us to serialize it on our blog as a prelude to the issue itself. &nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">We are accepting submissions for this issue until March 1, 2014. Write to us at femspec-at-aol-dot-com or to the issue editor aganapath-at-gmail-dot-com if you'd like to submit your work for consideration. The extended call for submissions can be found <a href="http://thevoicesoffemspec.blogspot.com/2013/12/extended-call-for-creative-work-special.html" target="_blank">here</a>&nbsp;and our <a href="http://femspec.org/submitting.html" target="_blank">submission guidelines are available here</a>.&nbsp;</blockquote><div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /></div>*****<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="text-decoration: underline;">Author Bio:</b>&nbsp; Carole Spearin McCauley is a medical writer/editor, the author of 13 books (medical nonfiction, literary novels, mysteries), from large (Simon&amp;Schuster) and smaller (Daughters, Inc; Women's Press) publishers &nbsp;in the U.S., U.K., Israel, Italy. &nbsp;One nonfiction book title is Surviving Breast Cancer (Dutton, Bantam Books). Her two latest mystery novels, Cold Steal and A Winning Death, appeared recently in hardcover and paperback from Hilliard&amp;Harris.com (Maryland). Her short work (stories, articles, poetry, reviews, interviews) has appeared in about 200 periodicals, anthologies, and now online, including New York Times, America, Family Circle, National Catholic Reporter, The Atlantic, North American Review, Redbook, Woman's World, Women of Mystery. Seven short pieces have won prizes in international contests that include Radio Netherlands Worldwide and USA Today.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Her 13th book, How She Saved Her Life, is a tale of love/business/arson--with llamas--that features a mature heroine. &nbsp;It's set in the Berkshire Hills, western Mass. where Carole grew up. &nbsp;She graduated from Antioch College, Ohio, and earned an M.A. in &nbsp;writing from Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY. &nbsp;For five years she &nbsp;planned programs with the Woman's Salon, Manhattan. &nbsp;At Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, she has taught Basics of Fiction Writing and works with Women's Network of the Upper Valley. She speaks yearly at Berkshire Women Writers Festival, Mass. &nbsp;She belongs to the Grail international women's movement and &nbsp;worked years at Grailville, its Ohio N.A. headquarters, and at its Manhattan art-bookshop.</span><br /><br />*****<br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a&nbsp;<span style="line-height: 24px; text-indent: 0.5in;">Q + A piece that combines some relevant autobiography with non-technical medical research on aspects of menopause.</span></span><br /><div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">DO I UNDERSTAND YOU? &nbsp;YOU’RE <i>HAPPY </i>YOU’VE REACHED AND PASSED THROUGH MENOPAUSE?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">Exactly. I sailed through it several years ago and docked happily on the other side of these bloody waters.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">FACTS, PLEASE.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">My final period came in December, 1990, when I was nearly 52, after some months of regular, but heavy, periods.&nbsp; When they happened, I thought, “Oh, no, more fibroid tumors.”&nbsp; I’d had D&amp;C surgeries for fibroids in 1977 (on outside of uterus) and 1988, after a four-inch internal fibroid tried to birth itself in a hemorrhage, but wound up stuck in my vagina on a stalk.&nbsp; When gynecologists noted that my uterus remained “enlarged to the size of a 10-week pregnancy” but could be expected to shrink upon menopause, I could hardly wait!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">Further facts:&nbsp; I have small fibrocystic breasts that not only got sore with retained fluid for two weeks each month, but required about 40 aspirations of cysts (with horse-sized needles) over many years.&nbsp; I still recall those needles pressing against my ribs.&nbsp; The largest cyst was two inches (nearly the whole breast), aspirated during pregnancy.&nbsp; Again the word was, “Your breasts won’t swell anymore after menopause.”&nbsp; Again I could hardly wait.&nbsp; Somehow I managed to breastfeed my son for five months in 1980.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">More facts:&nbsp; I’m about six feet tall, weigh about 140 pounds, have been slim all my life.&nbsp; I’m a widow and have one son, now married and working in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Connecticut</st1:place></st1:state>.&nbsp; They, including his wife’s little girl, live in my house there.&nbsp; He was born when I was 41. Before this normal Lamaze delivery with hospital midwives, I’d suffered one 1973 miscarriage, followed by guess what?&nbsp; The first D&amp;C to stop the bleeding.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">Then there was the final D&amp;C in 1993.&nbsp; After my periods abruptly stopped in 1990, I had one totally normal period in October, 1992, with moist vagina, sore breasts, the whole bit.&nbsp; The 1993 D&amp;C removed a one-inch fibroid—not large enough to cause hemorrhage but possibly to cause that isolated but strangely normal period.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">Before and after menopause—several years now without regular periods—I do not recall having one hot flash, night sweat, heart palpitation, weight gain, or other symptom.&nbsp; Living in the northern <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>, the only times I’ve felt uncontrollably hot were during pregnancy (when I could sit before open windows during February) and whenever I visit <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Florida</st1:place></st1:state>.&nbsp; Ordinarily I wear long clothes most of the year.&nbsp; Since I’m a health writer, I suspect my luck in avoiding usual menopausal symptoms is partly good health and good attitude, including relief at not menstruating anymore, and partly that estrogen and progesterone have left my body slowly enough to avoid the sudden drop that produces hot flashes.&nbsp; I certainly have not requested hormone replacement therapy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">Psychologically I can’t feel “old” or useless with more than full-time writing and editing work, activities in the condo complex where I live and at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Dartmouth</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">College</st1:placetype></st1:place>campus.&nbsp; If I’d hoped that one benefit of aging is to enjoy rising at 6 a.m., that hasn’t happened yet!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">HOW HAVE YOU CELEBRATED MENOPAUSE?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">I dared to buy my first set of pastel underpants (instead of stain-proof black). &nbsp;Next I&nbsp; spent some rarer money on myself to achieve two beauty items I’d always wanted.&nbsp; The first was to get my semi-protruding ears pinned back by a cosmetic surgeon, followed by some liposuction under my chin.&nbsp; The next beauty bit involved extensive electrolysis—getting my eyebrows shaped and coarse, dark hair removed from my upper lip and legs. These procedures are successful and have relieved me of problems that had annoyed me since puberty.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">WHAT ELSE ENCOURAGED YOU?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">In my health research I found the following studies that I wish more people knew about.&nbsp; During the mid-60s, medical sociologists Sonja McKinley and Margot Jefferys polled 638 women aged 45 through 54 in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">England</st1:place></st1:country-region>.&nbsp; They divided respondents into 11 categories that ranged from women still menstruating to those whose final period occurred nine years before.&nbsp; Symptoms studied were hot flushes, night sweats, headache, dizzy spells, palpitations, sleeplessness, depression, and weight gain.&nbsp; When headache, dizziness, palpitations, insomnia, depression, and weight gain were isolated, 30% to 50% of women, <i>including those still menstruating,</i> experienced at least one of these symptoms (or several together).&nbsp; The fact that premenstrual women also experienced such symptoms led the researchers to conclude that this second list of symptoms is not <i>directly or only</i> related to menopause.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">However, 4 out of 5 of these English women did experience hot flushes, including 25% who described them as acutely uncomfortable.&nbsp; Another 20% described them as embarrassing.&nbsp; For the still-menstruating women, hot flushes “rarely occurred.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">Conclusion?&nbsp; In this group of more that 600 women, hot flushes were the only symptom clearly and directly related to menopause.&nbsp; Researchers McKinley and Jefferys later continued this work to include more than 2,500 women in the <st1:city w:st="on">Boston</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Mass.</st1:state> (<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">USA</st1:place></st1:country-region>) area with similar results.&nbsp; This included a five-year follow-up.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 150%;">The next study that encouraged me is reported in Paula Weidiger’s book, <i>Menstruation and Menopause. </i>Her results found:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: .5in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 150%;">10% of women report severe symptoms<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: .5in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 150%;">80% report one or more symptoms<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: .5in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 150%;">10% have no symptoms.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><br />femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-50434554043031387692014-01-24T19:37:00.000-08:002014-09-21T11:08:27.979-07:00<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">6 Speculative Fiction Authors You Need to Read</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">(Who Happen to be Awesome Women of Color)<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">By Maija Hatton- FemSpec Intern</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Speculative fiction, as a whole, tends to be overwhelmingly white and male. Our future is not going to be anything like that— minority populations are outgrowing white populations and more and more women are taking their places next to men in positions of power. This is fantastic news for speculative fiction. The future is going to take after the present, and be populated by incredible varieties of people. Speculative fiction ought to reflect that though a greater variety of perspectives on what’s possible for humanity a few years or centuries from now. This is an introductory list of authors whose perspectives as non-white women are guaranteed to open up your preconceived notions of the future, as dictated by the white men who have dominated the speculative genre. As the television writer Jane Espenson (Known for her work on <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i>,<i> Torchwood</i> and <i>Once Upon a Time</i>) put it, “If we can’t write diversity into scifi, then what’s the point? You don’t create new worlds to give them all the same limits of the old ones.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">1<span style="line-height: normal;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: normal;">1.&nbsp;</span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Octavia Butler</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><div class="MsoListParagraph"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 115%;">If you have read any speculative fiction by a woman of color, it was probably by Octavia Butler. As a winner of two Hugo awards, a Nebula award, recipient of a Macarthur Genius Grant and 2010 inductee into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, her writing has been very much recognized in the Science Fiction community, and rightfully so. She is best known for her 1979 novel <u>Kindred</u>, a time travel story about a black woman who is transported back into the antebellum north and must confront the legacy of slavery in a very visceral way. <u>Kindred</u>is a stand-alone novel, but Butler also wrote the <u>Patternist</u> series (1976-1984), about African deities and aliens who hold the fate of the world in their hands. It features telepathy, romance, body swapping and epic psychic battles—everything you need for a fun time. Butlers short stories, particularly the Hugo award winners “Bloodchild” (1984) and “Speech Sounds” (1983), have the same imaginative and thoughtful prose found in her novels. A large number of her stories are collected in <u>Bloodchild and Other Stories</u> (1995), and could serve as a gateway into Butler’s excellent body of work for the uninitiated or skeptical. FemSpec is lucky enough to have had a personal link to Octavia Butler. She served on our board for several years, and was an absolutely amazing member. We still receive and public criticism of her work, which is a lovely reminder that she still lives on in the imaginations and curiosity of academics as well as her readers.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span><br /></span></div></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Credit to octaviabutler.org<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">2<span style="line-height: normal;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: normal;">2.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: normal;">&nbsp;</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Tananarive Due</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span><br /><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; A natural successor to Octavia Butler, Due has also collected her share of recognition for her excellent, unique speculative fiction. She has won a NAACP Image Award, and an American Book award for her work, and has recently served as the Cosby Chair for the Humanities at Spelman College in Atlanta. Due is best known for her </span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">African Immortals </u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">series (My Soul to Keep (1997), Blood Colony (2002), The Living Blood (2008), and My Soul to Take (2011)), about a regular woman who gets roped into the affairs of a group of powerful Ethiopian immortals once she finds out that her husband is one of them. Their magical blood, true love, and the consequences of immortality are examined in this roller coaster of a series. Due has followed </span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">African Immortals</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">with the </span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Devil’s Wake</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"> series, co-written with Steven Barnes, about an unexpected romance that develops among the apocalypse, pestilence and flesh-eating ghouls. In 2003, she co-wrote </span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Freedom in the Family</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">, a Civil Rights memoir, with her mother. Her writing has the power to be educational and touching as well as wonderfully terrifying.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Due has also been published in FemSpec. Her short story “Protection,” in the form of a letter to the editor, “offers a disturbing tale of a mother, a boy, and a witness that signs the letter “Unsigned.” It was published in Volume 3, Issue 2 in 2002. The thing about FemSpec is that you never know what talent you’ll find in each issue. We support women writers, particularly women of color, in order to further diversity in speculative fiction.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 115%;">Credit to tananarivedue.com<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: normal;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: normal;">3.&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Nnedi Okorafor</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span><br /><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Okorafor was born to Nigerian parents and was raised in the United States, with frequent visits to Nigeria that inspired her imagination. Currently a professor at Chicago State University, she has published six novels, mostly in the young adult genre. Most take place in Nigeria, with a mix of magic and futuristic technology. Her first novel, </span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Zahrah the Windseeker</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">(2005), is a coming of age story set in a fictional world that blends fantasy and science fiction with African folklore. Her second novel, </span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">The Shadowspeaker</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"> (2008), is also a coming of age tale, but with more magic and danger as it follows a young girl trying to find her father’s murderer in 2070 Niger. Okorafor has also published multiple short stories and critical essays, and has had a screenplay, “Wrapped in Magic” produced in Nigeria.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 115%;"><br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Credit to nnedi.com<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">4 &nbsp; 4. </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Nalo Hopkinson</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; After growing up in Jamaica and moving to Canada as a teenager, Hopkinson has settled in the United States as a creative writing professor at the University of California Riverside. Hopkinson values her intersectional identity as a queer, Caribbean, Canadian, female writer of color, and it shows in the stories she writes. Hopkinson has published several novels, </span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Brown Girl in the Ring</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"> (1998), which draws from Caribbean culture and folklore; </span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Midnight Robber</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"> (2000), a far-future coming of age novel with Trinidadian roots; </span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">The Salt Roads</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">(2003), which is about Ezili, an African love goddess and her manifestation at three different points in time; and </span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">The New Moon’s Arms</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"> (2007), a menopausal poltergeist tale. Her equally original short stories have been released in the collection </span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Skin Folk</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"> (2007), which is also available as an audiobook from Caribbean Tales. Some of the first critical works on Nalo Hopkinson were published in FemSpec, in our “Speculative Black Women” issue from 2005. Two pieces, “Nalo Hopkinson’s Approach to Speculative Fiction” by Jerrilyn McGregory, and “Nalo Hopkinson’s Ti-Jeanne as Superhero in “</span><i style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Breastfeeding Mother Rescues City</i><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">” by Gretchen Michlitsch, were in this issue, and were a nice way of introducing Hopkinson’s work into the academic sphere. A speech given by Hopkinson at the College of New Jersey was also published, “</span><i style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Afrofuturism: Womanist Paradigms for a New Millennium,</i><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">” and allows the reader some insight into her process and the influence of the African Diaspora on her work.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"> Credit to nalohopkinson.com<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">5 &nbsp; &nbsp;5.<span style="line-height: normal;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Vandana Singh<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><div class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Born and raised in New Delhi, Singh currently teaches physics at Framingham State College in Massachusetts. The majority of her writing is short fiction, although she dabbles in childrens literature with her Younguncle stories. Singh has been featured in <u>The Year’s Best Science Fiction</u>, installments 14, 22 and 23, as well as <u>The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror</u>, installments 17 and 18. She offers a unique perspective, being one of the few Indian speculative fiction writers who writes in English and is a woman. She has also published poetry in the 2006 <u>Mythic</u> anthology and the online magazine, <u>Strange Horizons</u>.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Credit to bookslut.com interview with Vandana Singh<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="http://www.bookslut.com/features/2006_08_009677.php">http://www.bookslut.com/features/2006_08_009677.php</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">6<span style="line-height: normal;">&nbsp; &nbsp; </span><span style="line-height: normal;">6.</span><span style="line-height: normal;"> &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Daina Chaviano</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Chaniano, a Cuban émigré residing in Miami since 1991, has published in both English and Spanish.&nbsp; Her novel </span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">The Island of Eternal Love</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">, an epic, intricate family story much like Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s </span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">100 Years of Solitude</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">, is the most widely translated Cuban novel of all time. She deals in magical realism and fairy tales with touches of the Gothic and science fiction genres. Chiavano’s work spans several decades, and shows her evolution from a writer of international UFO tales (</span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">The Worlds I Love</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"> (1979)), to short stories about dragons (</span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Land of Dragons</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"> (1989)), erotic poetry (</span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Erotic Confessions and Other Enchantments </u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">(1994)), and now, epic romance and magical realism (</span><u style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">The Island of Eternal Love</u><span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;"> (2006)). Her work is available in both English and Spanish.</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Credit to dainachaviano.com<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">FemSpec will always support women of color in their endeavors to write or critique speculative fiction. We’re very interested in groups that are not especially visible in the speculative fiction community, such as South Asians. We take great pride in being a space in which wonderful writers like Tananarive Due can be published, Octavia Butler can serve as a board member, and critical works on Nalo Hopkinson can be shown to the rest of the speculative fiction community.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Do you know any other women of color speculative fiction writers? Recommend them in the comments! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">We are always taking submissions of speculative art, short fiction, and criticism with feminist themes. For more information, go to</span><a href="http://femspec.org/submitting.html" style="line-height: 115%;">&nbsp;FemSpec Submissions</a></span></div>femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-52212530725566882612013-12-09T20:42:00.002-08:002013-12-09T20:42:37.209-08:00*Extended* - Call for Creative Work - Special Issue on Aging and Gender: 'The Great Age’ Issue<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Deadline for Submissions: March 1, 2014</b></div><br />This is an extension to our previous call for papers for a Special Issue in Aging and Gender.<br />For this issue - now the Great Age Issue -&nbsp;We are looking for creative work including fiction, poetry, photography and art.<br /><br />We seek work that re-imagines the way we view women growing older and/or depict the way societal expectations of gender roles impact how we age. Keeping in mind the feminist thrust of the journal, we seek submissions that engage with our mission to examine and critique the relationship of gender to ideologies of aging in contemporary society or to re-imagine the future of aging primarily for women, but also for men within a gendered perspective.<br /><br />We invite work between genres as well: coverage of conferences, personal essays, non-fiction, media critiques, analyses of popular culture, transcripts from dialogues on relevant topics, interviews with authors, &nbsp;art and photography, and work by or about girls of any age. Submit your work for consideration directly to the Editor of this Special Issue at aganapath@gmail.com.<br /><br />Note: Because Femspec is a fully independent journal funded by subscriptions rather than institutional support, subscription is required on submission. To subscribe, please <a href="http://femspec.org/subscribe.html">click here</a>.<br /><br />For general submissions and other questions, write to us at femspec@aol.com<br /><div><br /></div>femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-45208608645319190172013-04-01T12:03:00.001-07:002013-11-14T18:40:46.632-08:00Updated: Join the Femspec Team!<br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><strong>Do you want the opportunity for professional development?</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><strong>Are you just getting out of your Masters program brimming with skills and unsure of your candidacy for a doctoral program?</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><strong>Are you in the doctoral program or assistant prof. slot wanting to fatten your resume with professional service?</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><strong><br /></strong><strong>We've filled some of our earlier opportunities. But we're still looking for people to&nbsp;</strong><strong style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">fill these roles:</strong></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">1. Subscription and Mail Coordinator - A person in this role is responsible for maintaining the subscription base and ensuring that it is current, for receiving the shipment from the printer, and for mailing out the issues</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">2. Advertising Executive - This person will coordinate ad exchanges with other journals, and seek paying advertisers such as publishers.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">3. Book Review Editor -&nbsp;Responsibilities include communicating with editor about overall vision of what needs to be reviewed in the journal, conferring at conferences, strategizing about how to collect the latest books each year, making the rounds at conferences to get books directly from exhibitors, going through new title lists to order review copies, focusing on compiling scholarly texts to review, advertising for reviewers on lists such as Pop Culture, WMSTL, SFRA, IAFA; sending reviews out for peer-review; copy editing and proof reading reviews; collecting bios from reviewers as well as ensuring that they subscribe; supervising returning the page copy to publishers and authors once book reviews are printed.<br />4. Book Review Coordinator- This person will send out copies of book reviews to publishers, and will send published pieces to non-subscribing authors for review</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">5. Database Liaison - This person is responsible for liasoning with databases for various issues including information updation etc.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">6. Graphic Designer - This person will be responsible for designing and&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">m</span><span style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">aking brochures, leaflets for conferences etc.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">7. Press-release writer</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">8. Citation checker - For all accepted submission</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">9. Grant writer</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">10. Creative Submissions Editor</div><div style="background-color: white;"><div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">11. Art Contest Coordinator</div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><br /></div><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">If interested please send a CV, letter of interest describing how your skills, knowledge of the journal and the field, and experience lend you to this position, and three letters of reference to femspec@aol.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">Production team members are required to keep subscriptions current throughout their internship, and are asked to make a three year commitment. If they leave their job or quit or resign from their task without finding and training a replacement before their term is up, an exit fee of $100 is required to assist the journal in its transition in recruiting and replacing the labor.</span><br /><div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><br /></div><br /><div style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;"><br /></div></div>femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-38757383631398196092013-03-26T08:36:00.003-07:002013-03-26T08:36:33.589-07:00*New* CFP: Gender and Aging in Speculative Fiction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><u>Femspec: Special Issue on Aging and Gender in Speculative Fiction</u></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i>Deadline for Submissions: May 30, 2013</i></span></div><br />We're inviting papers, fiction and art for a special issue of Femspec, Aging and Gender in Speculative<br />Fiction.<br /><br />We're looking for work that examines speculative fiction books, TV shows, or movies that re-imagine the way we view women growing older and/or depict the way societal expectations of gender roles impact how we age. Keeping in mind the feminist thrust of the journal, we seek submissions that consider how major feminist sf writers depict aging characters, that apply feminist theory to depictions of aging in sf texts broadly defined, or that address sf’s potential to critique the relationship of gender to ideologies of aging in contemporary society or to re-imagine the future of aging primarily for women, but also for men within a gendered perspective.<br /><br /><br />In addition to this special issue, Femspec seeks scholarly submissions that explore gender issues in sf, apply feminist criticism to the study of sf or analyze the work of women writers in science-fiction media or "speculative fiction” broadly defined.<br /><div><br /></div><br /><b><u>The background to the issue</u></b><br />The seeds for this special issue were planted at a paper session, "Women Growing Older in the Perilous Realm: Science Fiction and Re-Imagining Old Age" at the 2012 National Women’s Studies Conference 2012, chaired by Margaret Cruickshank. Whether analyzing a picture of older women as inhabiting a privileged position from which to critique society as in “The Space Crone,” a vision of the planet Vulcan where an older woman is the powerful high priestess, or the creation of a culture in which older women are given the most creative work as in Joanna Russ’s Whileaway, we need to ask: how does this re-imagining of old age empower older women, give new value to their accumulated knowledge or new expression to their abilities, apply a feminist lens to their subordination or oppression, or otherwise upend the hegemonic narrative of women’s aging as nothing but a decline into silence and invisibility.<br /><br /><b><u>Note</u></b><br />Because Femspec is a fully independent journal funded by subscriptions rather than institutional support, subscription is required on submission. Essays undergo a rigorous two-step jury process with independent readers and members of the Femspec editorial board. Submissions can be sent directly to the special issue editor, Aishwarya Ganapathiraju, aganapath@gmail.com or to Femspec.org, where subscription information can be found.<br /></div>femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-36811096840506142222012-04-28T10:59:00.000-07:002012-04-28T10:59:32.980-07:00CFP: Divination, Myth, and Art<div style="text-align: center;"><br /><div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Call for Papers for a </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Femspec</i></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Special Issue:</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 100%;">Divination, Myth, and Art</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 100%;"><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 0.19in;"><i>Femspec,</i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 0.19in;">&nbsp;an interdisciplinary journal dedicated to challenging gender through speculative means in any genre, announces a call for material on divination, myth, and art. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 0.19in;">These materials</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 0.19in;"> may deal with the speculative aspects of divination through any means including Tarot – particularly representations of Tarot and other readings in film, speculative literature, art, poetry, and popular culture. They may also deal with creative writing, women artists, feminist myth scholars, and ancient mythic archetypes appearing in fiction or framing artistic production.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 0.19in;"><br /></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 0.19in;">We are particularly looking for publishable critical and creative material that explores women’s reclamation of myth from our own and other cultures, plus the creation and use of new myth. Who made those images? What is the relationship between powerful goddess archetypes and the lives of women in the cultures that produced and worshipped them?&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 0.19in;">We are also interested in submissions that focus on the&nbsp;divination reading process and the spiritual medium reader using whatever tools at hand.</span><br /><div style="background: #ffffff; line-height: 0.19in; margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 0.19in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Submissions may include:</span></div><ul><li><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.04in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">critical analysis</span></div></li><li><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.04in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">short stories, poetry, and excerpts from longer works</span></div></li><li><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.04in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">personal accounts of working as a reader, mythic explorer, ritual writer, artist, fiction writer, etc</span></div></li><li><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.04in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">memoirs and autobiographical accounts of&nbsp;spiritual and divination&nbsp;readers scholarly papers about speculative fiction, cultural products&nbsp;or ethnographies exploring women’s experience of the spiritual or mythic</span></div></li><li><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.04in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">participant observation/autoethnography projects</span></div></li><li><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.04in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">commentaries on representations of the spiritual reading in any aspect of popular culture, including the evolution of contemporary decks in the women's spirituality movement, the practice of palmists or&nbsp;phone psychics, art, film, Tarot reading shops, booths on boardwalks or at carnivals and festivals such as Renaissance Fairs</span></div></li><li><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.04in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">as well as discussion of technology, divination, myth, and the arts, like the phenomenon of internet readers, digital artists’ collective, and cyber-mythmaking</span></div></li></ul><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 0.19in;">We also seek reviews of films, books, and any media including jewelry, popular culture, television shows, and music using myth, divination, and the creative to challenge the gender stereotypes of today.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">DEADLINE: October 15th, 2012</div><br /><div style="background: #ffffff; line-height: 0.19in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">MLA format required. See the</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Femspec</i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">website (</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://femspec.org/"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">femspec.org</span></span></a></u></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">) for paper submission format.&nbsp;For more information, contact</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">&nbsp;</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="mailto:femspec@aol.com"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">femspec@aol.com</span></span></a></u></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">. The cover artist will receive two free copies of the issue. All submitters must have active subscriptions throughout the submission, review, and publication process.&nbsp;</span></div>Nicholas Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05732962902004826885noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-37514722360917652162012-04-28T10:49:00.000-07:002012-04-28T10:50:39.847-07:00CFP: The Future of Reproductive Justice<br /><div style="text-align: center;">Call for Papers for a Femspec Special Issue:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Future(s) of Reproductive Justice</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Human Rights + (Social Justice Projects) * (Access + Consent) = Reproductive Justice</div><br />The term “reproductive justice” emerges from the work of women of color activists in the 1990s,&nbsp;who linked access to reproductive healthcare to racist, classist, and sexist power structures. SF&nbsp;authors like Octavia Butler, Nancy Kress, Suzy Charnas, and Marge Piercy have all used their&nbsp;work to explore the connections between power, access, consent, and reproductive wellbeing. In&nbsp;this special issue of Femspec, we invite our contributors to think critically about the future(s) of&nbsp;the reproductive justice movement.<br /><br />As a peer reviewed journal dedicated to critical and creative works that challenge gender,&nbsp;Femspec branches several genres. Because of this, we cast our net wide, in search of articles,&nbsp;fiction, poetry, and prose that explores…<br /><ul><li>Speculative fiction’s engagement with reproductive justice</li><li>The connections between reproductive justice, bodily sovereignty, and science fiction&nbsp;feminisms</li><li>Fantasies of choice/non-choice in feminist utopias and dystopias</li><li>Visions of reproductive freedom</li><li>Policy, access to healthcare, and speculative fiction’s role in resisting conservative&nbsp;projects</li><li>Short stories, poetry, and excerpts from longer projects</li><li>Creative nonfiction</li></ul><br /><br />We particularly encourage submissions from students, scholars at large, and writers working&nbsp;outside the academy. This project will be partially funded through Kickstarter.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">DEADLINE: October 15th, 2012</div><br />MLA format required. See the Femspec website (femspec.org) for paper submission format.&nbsp;All copyrights will be maintained by Femspec. The cover artist will receive two free copies of&nbsp;the issue. The journal is double anonymously peer-reviewed. All submitters must have active&nbsp;subscriptions throughout the submission, review, and publication process.Nicholas Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05732962902004826885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-14372543830567469782011-11-01T03:37:00.000-07:002011-11-02T15:52:57.132-07:00CFP: “Kick *ss” Moms: Mothering and Reproduction in SF<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>Deadline: Dec. 15&nbsp;2011</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Femspec</i> is an interdisciplinary feminist journal dedicated to sf, fantasy, magical realism, surrealism, myth, folklore, and other supernatural genres. We have been in print since 1999 and boast of an advisory board that includes Suzie Charnas, Pamela Sargeant, and Samuel Delany. We are currently seeking submissions for a special issue or themed section dedicated to women who balance the worlds of adventurer and caregiver, with a focus on mothering and reproduction in sf.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Most female characters in sf, fantasy, and other supernatural genres do not have children.&nbsp; Those who do are often relegated to a peripheral role until the children are grown.&nbsp; However, characters who balance raising a child and saving the world can be fascinating.&nbsp; Why aren’t there more of them? We are interested in works that explore these issues, as well as writings about mothers and parents who have attempted to rearrange childrearing through creation of intentional community and work about the reconstruction of the breeding process socially in various genres. &nbsp;We are also looking for works that address the intersection of mothering and adventuring – including the adventure of construction of a new society freeing women from reproduction according to traditional norms.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We are hoping to find works which look beyond the stereotype of the mom who will protect her children to the death and investigate mothering at multiple levels including the creation of utopian and dystopian societies in which mothering is arranged differently.&nbsp; We are also interested in papers about teaching any of these works that experiment with reproduction and treatment of reproduction and mothering in early sf.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We would welcome works from the following genres, which address these issues:</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: -0.25in;"></div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Critical papers</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fiction</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;</span>Non-fiction</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Poetry</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Book Reviews</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Art Work</span></li></ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Please submit two copies of your piece to:<i>&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Valerie Guyant</span></o:p><br /><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">625 Hibbard Hall</span></o:p><br /><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">English Department</span></o:p><br /><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">U of Wisconsin Eau Claire </span></o:p><br /><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eau Claire WI 54701</span></o:p><br /><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></o:p><br /><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">or <a href="mailto:guyantvl@uwec.edu">guyantvl@uwec.edu</a></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Since <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Femspec</i> is double anonymously peer reviewed, submissions must exclude any indication of your name. Along with your submission, include a separate sheet with:</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; text-indent: -0.25in;"></div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The title and genre of your piece</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your name</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Address</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Email Address</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Phone number</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A two sentence abstract&nbsp;</span></li></ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If your work passes the first round, you will be asked for an electronic submission. All submissions should conform to current MLA guidelines, which can be found online at http://www.mla.org. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Any submission that does not arrive with sufficient copies will not be sent through the review process. Please note that only subscribers may submit to <i>Femspec.</i> To subscribe, please visit our website at http://www.femspec.org. Subscription must be in hand in order for the submission to be reviewed, and it must be maintained throughout the submission, review, and publication process.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you have any questions, please visit our website or contact&nbsp;<a href="mailto:femspec@aol.com"><span style="color: #13335a; text-decoration: none;">femspec@aol.com</span></a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All copyrights will be maintained by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Femspec</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The cover artist will receive two free copies of the issue.</span></div>femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-880407200161900032011-10-31T20:14:00.000-07:002011-11-02T16:02:56.449-07:00CFP: Speculative Dimensions of Divination<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Deadline: Feb. 15 2012</span></b><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Femspec</i> (a peer reviewed journal dedicated to critical and creative works that challenge gender through speculative means in a variety of genres) is seeking submissions on speculative aspects of divination through any means including Tarot – particularly representations of Tarot and other readings in film, speculative literature, art, poetry, and popular culture.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Submissions that focus on the&nbsp;divination reading process and the spiritual medium reader using whatever tools at hand are particularly welcome and may include:</span><br /><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">critical analysis as well as short stories, poetry, and excerpts from longer works</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">personal accounts of experiences working as a reader</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">memoirs and autobiographical accounts of&nbsp;spiritual and divination&nbsp;readers</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">scholarly papers about fiction, cultural products&nbsp;or ethnographies</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">participant observation and commentaries on representations of the spiritual reading in any aspect of popular culture, including evolution of contemporary decks in the women's spirituality movement, the practice ofpalmists or&nbsp;phone psychics, art, film, the phenomenon of internet readers, Tarot reading shops, booths on boardwalks or at carnivals and festivals such as Renaissance Fairs.</span></li></ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Papers collected will be reviewed individually or as a special section or special issue of the journal, depending on the volume received and on what is timely for publication.&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The journal is double anonymously peer reviewed.&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All copyrights will be maintained by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Femspec</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All submitters must have active subscriptions throughout the submission, review, and publication process.&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The cover artist will receive two free copies of the issue.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">MLA format required. See the <i>Femspec</i> website (<a href="http://femspec.org/">femspec.org</a>) for paper submission format.&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For more information, contact </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="mailto:femspec@aol.com">femspec@aol.com</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span>femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-50600483209634161022011-10-30T17:37:00.000-07:002011-11-02T16:02:11.479-07:00CFP: Women, Myth, and Art (Special Issue)<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Deadline:</span></em><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">&nbsp;15</span></em><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">&nbsp;March 2012</span></em></span></b></div><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></em><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><em>Femspec,</em> an interdisciplinary journal dedicated to challenging gender through speculative means in any genre, announces a call for material on women, myth, and art.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Do you use myth in your creative writing in any genre, or art? Do you write about women artists and writers who do so? Do you critique or contribute to the growing body of feminist myth scholarship exploring what the ancient mythic archetypes such as these can contribute to women in the modern world? </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Who made those images? What is the relationship between powerful goddess archetypes and the lives of women in the cultures that produced and worshipped them? </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We are looking for publishable critical and creative material that explores women’s reclamation of myth from our own and other cultures, plus the creation and use of new myth.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">See <a href="http://femspec.org/">femspec.org</a> for submission procedures. All submitters must subscribe and keep their subscriptions current throughout the submission, review and publication process. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The issue will contain an exclusive interview with Judy Grahn.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We also seek reviews of films, books, and any media including jewelry, popular culture, television shows, and music using myth to challenge the gender stereotypes of today.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All articles must be in MLA style. Authors are responsible for style conversion and copyediting and proofing accepted work. We are a peer-reviewed cross-over journal in numerous data bases and have been in existence for over ten years.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mulu-liMNVE/TYVRhVzy3vI/AAAAAAAAABw/erOinfeSfQ0/s1600/durgapendant.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mulu-liMNVE/TYVRhVzy3vI/AAAAAAAAABw/erOinfeSfQ0/s200/durgapendant.JPG" width="150" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3-P--CkA1Bk/TYVRhYLFFHI/AAAAAAAAAB4/-JC1t4A9IcU/s1600/sirena%2By%2Bhebrew%2Bgoddess.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3-P--CkA1Bk/TYVRhYLFFHI/AAAAAAAAAB4/-JC1t4A9IcU/s200/sirena%2By%2Bhebrew%2Bgoddess.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lPdF_S6HJOE/TYVRho9jdzI/AAAAAAAAACA/3cxeH9PErr8/s1600/ancient%2Bwinged%2Bhittite%2Bgoddess%2Bpendant.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lPdF_S6HJOE/TYVRho9jdzI/AAAAAAAAACA/3cxeH9PErr8/s200/ancient%2Bwinged%2Bhittite%2Bgoddess%2Bpendant.JPG" width="150" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2bH58KM_j48/TYVRhxUpYQI/AAAAAAAAACI/QMtvU2o1R6A/s1600/ixchel%2Bpendant.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2bH58KM_j48/TYVRhxUpYQI/AAAAAAAAACI/QMtvU2o1R6A/s200/ixchel%2Bpendant.JPG" width="150" /></span></a></div>femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-9595871729007979912011-06-20T09:38:00.000-07:002011-07-11T20:52:32.549-07:00The Best of the Second Five YearsThis contest, which honors submissions to <i>Femspec</i>, is conducted every five years. We had two celebrations already, including one party at PCA in San Antonio which was attended by the two SF/F Area Chairs, two award winners, the Editor&nbsp;in Chief, two prospective interns who had just been interviewed and successfully came onboard, participants and audience members of Batya's Tarot panel, a mythologist with a book she had asked us to review, and various attendees walking by or who had noticed us in the program. The second was held at WisCon, a regular Sunday night&nbsp; party from 9 to 2 am with refreshments from Willie's, and readings aloud from prior issues especially most of the creative writing in the award-winning 6.1, of African America Women's Speculative Works. We will have our third event, a wine and cheese, in the book exhibit hall at NWSA in Atlanta, so come by! We will be the ones with balloons and party hats....<br /><br /><b>Judges: </b>Annis Pratt, Janice Bogstad, Florence Howe, Gloria Orenstein, Laurel Lampella, Philipa Kafka, Rick Collier, and Robert Von Der Osten.<br /><br /><b>Nominees for fiction:</b><br />1: 7.1: Debra Schleef, "From the Archives of Drs. Pacek and Arriola"<br />2: 8.1/2: Fina Wisker, "New Blood"<br />3: 8.1/2: K.A. Laity, "Eating the Dream"<br />4: 9.2: Gina Wisker, "Recruitment"<br />5: 10.1: Finesia Fideli "The Resurrection of Lazarus"<br /><b><br /></b><br /><b>And the winners are:</b><br /><b>First Place: </b>K.A. Laity, "Eating the Dream"<br /><b>Second Place:</b> Gina Wisker, "Recruitment"<br /><b>Third Place:</b> Debra Schleef, "From the Archives of Drs. Placek and Arriola"<br /><b>Fourth Place Tie:</b> Gina Wisker, "New Blood," And Finesia Fideli, "The Resurrection of Lazarus"<br /><br /><b>Nominees for criticism:</b><br />1: 10.2: Ritch Calvin, "'This Shapeless Book': Reception in Joana Russ's <i>The Female Man</i>"<br />2: 8.1: Eric M. Drown, "Business Girls and Beset Men in Pulp Science Fiction and Science Fiction Fandom"<br />3: 6.2: C.S'Thembile West, "The Competing Demands of Community Survival and Self-Preservation in Octavia Butler's <i>Kindred"</i><br />4&nbsp;: 9.2: Cristy Dwyer, "Queen Lili'uokalani's Imprisonment Quilt: Indomitable Spirits in Protest Cloth"<br />5: 10.1: Rebekah Sheldon. "Reproductive Futurism and Feminist Rhetoric: Joanna Russ's <i>We Who Are About To</i>. . . "<br />6: 6.2: J. Andrew Deman. "Taking Out the Trash: Octavia E. Butler's <i>Wild Seed</i> and the Feminist Voice in American SF"<br />7: 7.1: R.C. Dorozario, "The Consequences of Disney Anthropomorphism"<br />8: 7.1: Debra Bonita Shaw, "Sex and the Single Starship Captain: Compulsory Heterosexuality and <i>Star Trek: Voyager</i>"<br /><br /><b>And the winners are:</b><br /><b>First Place: </b>Debra Bonita Shaw, "Sex and the Single Starship Captain: Compulsory Heterosexuality and <i>Star Trek: Voyager</i>"<br /><b>Second Place: </b>R.C. Dorozario, "The Consequences of Disney Anthropomorphism"<br /><b>Third Place:</b> C.S'Thembile West, "The Competing Demands of Community Survival and Self-Preservation in Octavia Butler's <i>Kindred"</i><br /><b>Fourth Place Tie: </b>Cristy Dwyer, "Queen Lili'uokalani's Imprisonment Quilt: Indomitable Spirits in Protest Cloth"; Rebekah Sheldon. "Reproductive Futurism and Feminist Rhetoric: Joanna Russ's <i>We Who Are About To</i>. . . "; Eric M. Drown, "business Girls and Beset Men in Pulp Science Fiction and Science Fiction Fandom"<br /><b>Honorable Mention:</b> Ritch Calvin, "'This Shapeless Book': Reception in Joana Russ's <i>The Female Man</i>"<br /><br /><b>Nominees and winners for memoirs:</b><br />1: 8.1/2: Jane Davis, "The Value of Stupidity: Negative Values in Academia"<br />2: 8.1/2: Batya Weinbaum, "Memoirs of an Academic Career"<br />3: 8.1/2: Tina Andres, "Growing Thick Skin"<br /><br /><b>Poetry:</b><br /><b>First place:</b> Susan McLean, "Siren," 7.1, 2006.<br /><b>Second place: </b>Phebe Beiser, "Celebrating Holi," 10.1, 2009.<br /><b>Third place: </b>Glennis Redmond, "Scripted Hope," 7.1, 2006<br /><b><br /></b><br /><b>Art: Cover Nominations:</b><br />1: 10.2: Kartika Affandi, <i>Vinity or Aragon</i>, 2006<br />2: 9.1: Helen Klebassadel, "Regeneration"<br />3: 7.1: Menoukha Case, "Ascent: Yes!"<br />4: 7.2: Jenna Weston, "The Grain Goddess"<br />5: 6.2: Diane B. Lekovic, "Burning City"<br /><br /><b>And the winners are:</b><br /><b>First place:</b> Helen Klebasadel, <i>Regeneration</i>; created 1999<br /><b>Second place:</b> Kartika Affandi, <i>Vinity or Aragon</i>, created 2006<br /><b>Third place: </b>Jenna Weston, <i>The Grain Goddess</i>, created 2001<br /><br /><b>Best special issue or themed section:</b><br />6.1: "Speculative Black Women: Magic, Fantasy and the Supernatural," Ed. Gwendolyn Pough and Yolanda Hood.<br /><br /><b>Reviews:</b><br /><b>First:</b> "Having a Good Cry by Robyn Warhol," Reviewed by Erin Smith, 6.2<br /><b>Second: </b>"<i>Slayage: The Online International Journal of Buffy Studies</i>, eds. Rhonda Wilcox and David Lavery," Reviewed by Tanya Cochran, 6.2<br /><b>Third:</b>&nbsp; "<i>The Rat Laughs</i> by Nava Semel," Reviewed by Lank Ravin, 9.1<br /><br /><b>Other short-listed reviews:&nbsp;</b><br />"<i>Demeter and Persephone: Lessons from a Myth</i> by Tamara Agha-Jaffar," Reviewed by Simone Roberts, 6.2<br />"<i>Women Write Pulp</i> (Dorothy B. Hughes, <i>In a Lonely Place</i>, Faith Baldwin, <i>Skyscraper</i>, Valerie Taylor, <i>The Girls in 3-B</i>, from the Series, <i>Femmes Fatales</i>)," Reviewed by Erin Smith 6.1<br />"<i>Crafting the Witch: Engendering Magic in Medieval and Early Modern England</i> by Heidi Breuer," Reviewed by Emily Auger, 10.2<br />"<i>An Introduction to Western Esotericism</i> by Nadya Q. Chishty-Mujahid," Reviewed by Emily Auger, 10.2<br />"<i>Dearest Anne</i> by Juduth Katzier," Reviewed by Lani Ravin, 9.1<br /><br />We thank everyone involved. Look forward to a publication of <i>The Best of </i>Femspec<i>: The First Ten Years</i>, a forthcoming anthology of Femspec Books, and to further contests.femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-45026047182566356422011-06-05T16:05:00.000-07:002011-06-05T16:12:27.005-07:00Calls for papers and special issuesWe have calls for papers currently operating for Divination as Speculative Literature (previously Tarot in Culture but modified to be more culturally inclusive); Motherhood in SF (formerly Kick Ass Mothers in SF but this got no submissions so we expanded);&nbsp; and Myth, Women and Art.<br /><br />If you are interested in any of these please scroll through the archives or email us at <a href="mailto:femspec@aol.com">femspec@aol.com</a>.<br /><br />Calls for papers when developed with an individual usually continue even if the individual working on the issue or themed section has moved on for some reason or decided not to complete the project. As this happens often due to discovery of the workload, illness, job loss, break-ups, needing to move or to defend a disseration, or a tenure struggle, over the years we have decided to pick up on and continue many special issues so as not to be drained of our resources going into the issues that otherwise would have been advertised by us and fizzled out. We will continue to do this to the best of our abilities, but since special issues notoriously take more time and energy than general queues, we are also not committed to coninuing all special issues if none of the edtors is particularly interested in doing the work.<br /><br />Having said that, one of our interns who since&nbsp;moved on developed a call for a special issue about Halloween and related holidays which was circulated.So &nbsp;if anyone wants to come forward to pick up on that, since we are currently letting that one go, please let us know.<br /><br />The two special issues edited by others are now Paula Gunn Allen, in its second stage of review but awaiting complete subscription payment, and Elisabeth Vonarburg in its first stage of reviw and all paid up. At this point, either of these could be issue 11.2 depending on receipt of completely revised manuscripts and funding. Or, as has happened in the past, if the PGA special issue is not completely subscribed and completed to our satisfaction we may pursue the ability to use sections of it as part of a&nbsp; general queue.<br /><br />We are also interested in doing a Joanna Russ Tribute if anyone wants to coordinate it. Currently interviews with board members and others are planned.<br /><br />We appeciate your respect for our scarce time and energy and any interest in keeping this fantastic though fragile journal afloat...which miraculously has continued to occur for a number of years.femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-86165555578676094312011-06-05T15:48:00.000-07:002011-06-05T15:48:17.720-07:00Anonymous peer review process: read if you are editing for us<a href="http://www.publicationethics.org/">http://www.publicationethics.org/</a><br /><br />Above is the link that is mandatory for all new editors and special issue or themed sections editors to read.<br /><br />In the past it has occurred that special issue editors do not understand the importance of anonymous peer review, or the importance of removing themselves from the review procss if there is a conflct of interest in expressed opinion.<br /><br /><em>Femspec </em>prizes itself on being a peer reviewed journal as this helps with legitimacy for those in academe getting tenured. <br /><br />Even if you are a specialist in the field editing a special issue for us or with us you must peer review, rather than review yourself knowing the names of the submitters, in order toprotect the standards of the journal.<br /><br />Thnk you very much.femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-83849760497604055372011-06-05T09:58:00.000-07:002011-06-05T10:04:02.934-07:00WisCon and other recent adventures<em>Femspec</em> offered its products for sale at a table at WisCon Memorial Day weekend, and made many new connections with future people interested in working on the journal and submitting materials for future issues such as women, myth and art, motherhood in sf, and divination.<br /><br />We also had our awards party and celebration of the Best of <em>Femspec'</em>s Second Five Years, on Sunday night. From 9 pm til 2 am the next morning, we read aloud from previous <em>Femspecs</em> with whomever came in, thus publicizing our winners as well as other authors.<br /><br />All were amazed at the high quality of work we have been publishing, particular the fiction. Gina Wisker's "Recruitment" was a winner at about 1 am. We also read aloud most of the creative writing in the winning Special Issue, 6.2, African American Women's Speculative Works. By the next day, we had sold out of the entire issue.<br /><br />Another awards party was also organized at the Popular Culture Association in San Antonio, at which two of the winners were present to behonored. <br /><br />Look for us in the Exhibit Hall at National Women's Studies in Atlanta, in Nov., where we will have our final and third awards party for the second five years winners.<br /><br />Good news--although we had decided to publish The Best of <em>Femspec:</em> Creative Writing from the First Ten Years ourselves, and launch it at the next PCA, the editor of Aqueduct Press said she would also like to work on it. So if anyone wants to help get it together, let me know. <br /><br />I only went to two sessions, besides the one where I read from my novel. One was a Remembering Joanna Russ, at which I recruited contributors to the Joanna Russ Memorial Tribute. Still open...<br /><br />And another was one on reproductive justice, which left me open to doing a special issue on the topic if anyone is interested.<br /><br />Happy summer, <br /><br />Batyafemspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-23600698740866664222011-04-09T11:28:00.000-07:002011-05-20T09:56:34.222-07:00Available Positions in Femspec<i>Femspec</i> is an interdisciplinary journal dedicated to challenging gender through science fiction, magical realism, myth, the supernatural, and other speculative works. Currently, we are looking for people to fill a variety of positions, which are listed below. All positions require three years of volunteer work as well as logging hours and tasks and participating in femspeceditorial wiki and SKYPES on a regular basis. All require and assume current subscriptions to the journal, professional demeanor, consistent communication, ability to take direction, responsible follow-through, love of the subject matter, and embracing our vision. This may lead to recommendations or future gainful employment.<br /><br />If interested, send bio, vita, letter of interest, and two references to femspec@aol.com. If you are interested in more than one position, please indicate in separate paragraphs your suitability for each in your letter of interest. All applicants for positions must be current subscribers. (We have a special circumstances, household companion, retiree, differently abled, underemployed, unemployed, and student rate of $30. This is not currently posted on our website, www.femspec.org.) Interviews will be conducted through telephone or SKYPE.<br /><br /><b>Accountant:</b> Someone to help us keep and prepare sound books.<br /><br /><b>Kickstart Campaign Project Manager:</b> Kickstart has approved a campaign to raise money to print an anthology; the campaign project manager will make a video, explain the process and what feminist sf is on their webpage, make post cards, and set up the links.<br /><br /><b>Web Person:</b> Updates website as each issue is released – which involves posting the cover, table of contents, abstracts, and showcasing any special features – and makes any changes requested by the editorial board, the editor, or direct supervisor. <br /><br /><b>Set-up Person:</b> Puts each issue (two a year, between 80 and 280 pages) into the correct format to send to the printer. Sends material back to editor and proofreaders. Makes input into final document to send to printer. Responsible for maintaining electronic archive. Sometimes resizes graphics, designs covers, and works with advertisers to get acceptable files for use. Work may expand as we continue to produce anthologies and books. <br /><br /><b>Advertising Manager:</b> Solicits and receives exchange ads from other publications such as scholarly journals or feminist media. Keeps a file of all the participating advertisers. Develops new ads on a regular basis and sends them to each publication in the format requested.<br /><br /><b>Arts Editor:</b> Solicits art in the speculative vein and coordinates review of submissions of articles and cover art. <br /><br /><b>Drama Editor:</b> Solicits drama submissions in the speculative vein, responsible for reviewing submitted materials, and encourages coverage of drama productions or festivals.<br /><br /><b>Contract Manager:</b> Submits contracts to accepted authors, archives signed copies, amends contract language as necessary, and consults re-issues.<br /><br /><b>Manuscript Review Editor:</b> Circulates initial manuscripts to at least two anonymous reviewers, gives feedback to author, ensures author incorporates feedback, re-distributes revised manuscript to one of the initial reviewers and to one new reviewer, and then either accepts or rejects the article. Writes rejection letter or submits completed article to wiki in general queue to be picked up for copyediting. Posts bio and abstract provided by the author.<br /><br /><b>Public Relations:</b> Gets each book reviewed in significant publications and blogs. Collects such reviews and sends them to the web person to post in press coverage area. Plans and carries out promotional events for each new release (e.g. parties at cons or conferences, signings at bookstores, readings at universities, etc.).<br /><br /><b>Research and Development</b>: Researches potential funders to determine time line and possible ways to breakdown the large grant we have developed to send to different agencies. Contacts the agencies to discuss the projects and to determine possible interest. Looks at previous funds received by other feminist media by agencies. Once a plan has been developed, works with editors to produce and disseminate a series of grants.<br /><br /><b>Donor Development:</b> Contact current donors individually and inform them of the journal’s progress to solicit continuing support. Find new donors by gathering a list of women’s studies programs and popular culture programs and developing a campaign to approach the programs for support. Initiates the mutual fund so that donations to the fund may be solicited. Works with a lawyer to complete non profit status so that donors may receive a tax-deductible from <i>Femspec</i>.<br /><br /><b>Publishing Practicum Intern Coordination:</b> Develops a policy to recruit and interact with interns who seek marketable skills. Teaches interns basic skills such as copyediting, press release writing, proofreading, manuscript submission and processing, writing calls for papers, etc. Helps interns assess jobs performed and become familiar with what skills they can list on their resumes. Writes intern reviews to help with placement.<br /><br /><b><i>Femspec</i> Books and Production Associate Editor:</b> <i>Femspec</i> is in the process of expanding into a publishing house. The associate editor will spearhead this project by talking to other feminist and independent publishers, developing a review process for manuscripts, researching what other publishing houses have done during their start ups, developing a timeline and process including guidelines for authors, etc.<br /><br /><b>Special Issue Editor:</b> Develops calls for special issues. Works with the editors of the special issues throughout the process. Distributes the proposed call to ed board; makes moderations, gets final improvement, distributes widely. Develops a policy statement on the process and structure of special issues to post and utilize with all special issue editors. Ensures all submitters of each special issue are subscribes and keeps a subscription current throughout the submission, review and publication process. Trouble shoots the process and keeps all special issues moving at a timely basis. Can be two to four special issues being proposed or handled a year.<br /><br /><b>Contest manager:</b> Announces and conducts poetry and fiction contests through vehicles such as Poets and Writers. In charge of the "Best of" contest, which occurs every five years.<br /><br /><b>Blogger:</b> Encourages other bloggers, promotes the blog, makes blog updates (including ideas sent in by editors, updates about <i>Femspec</i> events, developments, or content) and posts announcement about our books and events. <br /><br /><b>Retreat Manager:</b> Organizes <i>Femspec</i> annual retreat. This includes determining a time and place when key players gather for organizational planning, organizing the retreat’s agenda, keeping records, arranging catering, and organizing transportation.femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3982407395368902042.post-70502010832615719892011-04-02T11:00:00.001-07:002011-06-24T08:34:32.383-07:00CIFF Take TwoIndependent Shorts Program 11<br /><br />This was the Saturday 11 am feature, which I picked because of the mention of a woman going to the moon in one film, and the mention of flying books in another. Also, Emmy Levine, our primary CIFF coverage from last year, mentioned that the shorts was a category more likely to be a repository of women directors. This Saturday morning visit was full of surprises and worth the time as well as the voucher.<br /><br /><i>The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore</i> (William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, USA, 17 minutes) while not specifically challenging gender, illustrated in a delightful way the process of an author writing and creating a book in a library with an attendant audience of books eagerly helping him, and then flying off to author heaven led by a clutch of balloon-like books on a handful of strings as he regains his youth. Meanwhile, on the steps of the library, a youthful reader checks out the book he leaves behind.<br /><br /><i>The Spaceship</i> (Emil Mkrttchian, Sweden, 25 minutes) was the one about the woman who wants to go to the moon. Turns out this is not science fiction at all, but the science fiction impacted imagination of a mentally challenged young woman who has a talking red rabbit to keep her company as she imagines her goal of getting there in imaginary spaceships. Abandoned by her mother who checks into a mental hospital when abandoned by her father, who is disturbed by having a child who is different, she cycles around town bearing the insult of “retard” by those who consider her different. She befriends the owner of a pizza parlor who refuses to hire her, although he too, as she eventually points out, harbors a fantasy: of going on a safari. She eventually does get him to give her a job, and cooks for other borderline, homeless, strange, and different people who dance in the streets enjoying her obviously innovative pizzas they are willing to take a chance on. There is a fantasy section when she goes to the moon, however; as she pops out, she sees an electrical being who turns out to be a vehicle for the flashback to her originally diagnosing psychiatrist who had thrown her father into a tizzy about how she would have a hard life, labeled for being so different.<br /><br /><i>Last Rain</i> (Tony Sanchez and David Sanz, Spain, 20 minutes) doesn’t really challenge gender, but it could be about time travelling and past or future lives; go see it. It won a Oaxaca Film Festival.<br /><br /><i>Interview</i> (Sebastian Marka, Germany, 20&nbsp;minutes) seems, for a brief minute, to be a challenge of gender as a woman takes out an ad to send an actor to pose as a serial killer of women that her husband, a journalist, is interviewing; except, the killer answers the ad and actually kills her.<br /><br /><i>As the Rain Was Falling</i> (Charlotte Joulia, France, 9 minutes) tricks the viewer into believing that a man and a woman caught in the rain start to have an affair. The bell rings interrupting their start of a kiss, and the viewer discovers the two are a separated couple passing off things and a kid at school. Doesn’t fit our category, but it’s still good.<br /><br />Another good film is&nbsp;<i>Heirlooms</i> (Wendy Chandler and Susan Danta, Australia, 10&nbsp;minutes), which is a series of short animations about precious objects of a series of children around the world.femspec staffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18163474858565424006noreply@blogger.com0